Sinatra: 80 Years My Way was recorded at the at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on November 19th, directed by Louis J. Horvitz, and aired by ABC on December 14th, 1995.
Ray Charles used an unusual quantity of well prepared text to chide Sinatra for his appearance in the 1946 picture Till The Clouds Roll By - a white guy, singing a black man's song, Ol' Man River.
Charles brought down the house and the crowd to its feet with an odd version Ol' Man River: it had disappointingly little to do with his original interpretation. The arranger must have had an offday, and Ray - for once - really couldn't save that chart.
Possibly taken backstage at this show. Ed McMahon left.
This ABC TV show was recorded at the at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on 19 November, directed by Louis J. Horvitz, and aired on 14 December 1995.
It offers a rather unexpected line-up of celebrities and semi-celebs paying tribute to Frank Sinatra with songs a/o nice words. Amongst the more famous were Tony Bennett, Bono, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Johnny Depp, Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, Little Richard, Gregory Peck, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Selleck, Bruce Springsteen, and Robert Wagner.
Charles used an unusual quantity of well prepared text to chide Sinatra for his appearance in the 1946 picture Till The Clouds Roll By - a white guy, singing a black man's song, Ol' Man River.
Photo ny Lee Celano.
Charles brought down the house and the crowd to its feet with a version Ol' Man River. But it had disappointingly little to do with his original interpretation. The arranger must have had an offday, and Ray really couldn't save the chart. Ray nevertheless scored a standing ovation (but so did even Patti LaBelle).
Shots between acts focus on Sinatra and wife Barbara seated ringside. His emotions range from amused to bewildered (Patti Labelle!) to touched. It turned out to be Frank's last public appearance.
Old Man River:
Celebrities waiting line (with Ray) at the event + Bob Dylan doing Restless Farewell: [Clip removed from YouTube]
Patti Labelle: [Clip removed from YouTube]
Reuters has shelved a reportage of the event (ID 605140450; watch here), with a few seconds of Ray in it.
Sinatra in Till the Clouds Roll By:
"If it's really something good that was not on the record, that's okay, because when I perform I can make the performance of the song better than the record was."
The Genie
Ray Charles at the Apollo (Apr. or maybe Oct. 1959), working on his Wurlitzer. Photo by Alex Harsley.
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About
The Ray Charles Video Museum is a research project, documenting live performances by The Genius.
This blog is above all aMediagraphy. It's also a discography (or, more correctly, a trackography), aggregating all tunes that Ray sang and/or played - including the "canon" of 700 tracks listed on the official Ray Charles website, but also identifying the songs that have never been officially released, and e.g. the recordings of other artists, where Ray backed them on piano. Thirdly, this blog has evolved into a multimedia Chronology (click the years in the panel al the top of this page) of Ray's productive live.
I also try to do some justice to the more than 1,000 great musicians and singers who contributed to Ray's career (1, 2).
The Quotes page lists the wisest, craziest and funniest things that the Genius ever said. If you want to read more about Brother Ray, go here.
The availability of the streaming video and audio content on this blog is constantly under pressure. Some rights owners still think that sharing these videos damages their sales. I'm keeping disfunctional clips as placeholders - to show that the footage exists, and to replace them when new uploads appear on the Web.
The articles in this blog are continuously updated and improved. Your help is more than welcome.
The Bishop seduces the world with his voice
Sweat strangles mute eyes
As insinuations gush out through a hydrant of sorrow
Dreams, a world never seen
Mounded on Africa's anvil, tempered down home
Documented in cries and wails
Screaming to be ignored, crooning to be heard
Throbbing from the gutter
On Saturday night
Silver offering only,
The Right Reverend's Back in Town
Don't it make you feel all right?
Unreleased.
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